Our Happy Ending
by karevsprincess
Summary: Her life isn't a Disney movie. There is no fairy godmother, no seven dwarves – but she's definitely living her own fairy tale. For Finchel Week Day 3 "Fairy Tale". One-shot. Future fic. AU (sadly).


**A/N**: This is my contribution for today's day of Finchel Week – Day 3: Fairy Tale. This also fits yesterday's prompt (Babies) as well. Hope you enjoy, and post a review if you'd like!

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Glee that show would've ended at Season 3, with Finn and Rachel riding off into the sunset together, cue the happy music, the end.

* * *

The music pierces her ears as soon as she walks into the house.

"_Tale as old as time! Song as old as rhyme! Beauty and the Beast!" _

"Hello?" Rachel calls out as she walks into her foyer. Abruptly, the music stops, and the sound of little feet pounding on the hardwood can be heard.

Stella reaches her first. Her oldest child practically tackle hugs her, nearly knocking Rachel off her feet. "Hi Mommy!" She says excitedly. "We were singing Beauty and the Beast so we could be like you!"

"Yeah!" Addie says, copying her older sister, because she's three now and therefore wants to do everything Stella does. "We want to be like you Mommy!"

Rachel smiles and looks at her girls with pride. "Oh, do you now? Well, from what I heard, you two will be on Broadway in no time."

Stella grins widely at her. "We can sing the song again, Mommy! So you can hear the whole thing!"

"Can I say hi to Daddy and Chris first?" Rachel asks. Stella and Addie nod eagerly, smiling widely as they follow Rachel back up the stairs.

They'd first bought this townhouse in the suburbs when she was pregnant with Stella. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths, plenty of yard space, and only twenty minutes outside of the city. In the almost six years they've owned it, it's become extremely special to the Hudson family. They know how every scuff got on the hardwood. There's still traces of crayon on the living room wall from when Addie decided to play Picasso and draw her family a pretty picture. Pencil marks representing Stella and Addie's heights are on the bedroom doorframe, and someday Chris's will be there too. To Rachel, everything about it feels like home.

Her daughters run ahead of her once they reach the top of the stairs, plopping back on the couch, Beauty and theBeast playing on the TV for what has to be the fifth time this week, and it's only Wednesday. Rachel smiles as she watches Stella and Addie, looking enthralled even though they surely know the storyline by heart by now, before she walks into the kitchen.

Her husband's back is facing her, and she hears him murmur under his breath. He used to curse when he tried to cook all the time, usually when he burnt something, but when Stella started to learn how to talk she made him censor his language so that their daughter's first word wouldn't rhyme with 'suck'. The word he's using today is 'frack'.

Chris is sitting in his highchair, a trail of slobber going from his mouth to the teething ring clutched in his chubby fist. Her youngest bursts into a fit of babbling when his big, brown eyes spotting her, attracting her husband's attention. "Ma ma ma ma ma!"

"Hey, you're home." Finn says. Rachel smiles at him, scoops Chris up into her arms, and walks over to give her husband a kiss hello.

"I called up the stairs five minutes ago," She informs him matter-of-factly. "But I guess you were so involved in making your delicious –" She pauses, looking to see what he's cooking. "– grilled cheese, you didn't notice."

Finn gives her that goofy, lopsided smile that never ceases to make her melt. At six months old, Chris has already begun trying to replicate it – it's precious, really. "It's my specialty," Finn tells her. "I even made one with that vegan cheese substitute you like."

Rachel smiles and kisses him again. Chris squirms in her arms as he gets stuck between them, so she has to pull away. "It's perfect." She says. "Thank you."

They're interrupted by a loud squeal from the living room, emitted by their daughters as the movie'ends and the credits roll. The two girls join them in the kitchen a moment later. "Is dinner almost ready, Daddy?" Stella asks. She's twirling, attempting to dance like Belle and the Beast, while Addie tries to follow, but ends up mostly stumbling in circles.

"Almost," Finn says, smirking as he watches the two of them. "Just give it a sec."

Addie attempts to pull her chair out at the table, and Rachel swoops in to help her sit down. "How was being Belle today, Mommy?"

Rachel sits down at her usual seat, next to the spot that is reserved for Finn and on the other side of Chris's highchair. She puts her son back in his seat too, and helps him when he nearly drops his teething ring. "It was great, baby."

"Did you dance today?" Stella asks.

Rachel smiles at their enthusiasm. She'd sworn she would take the year off after Chris was born, but then the part of Belle in the latest Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast was offered to her, and Stella and Addie had insisted she take it. Now, every day when she comes home from a fitting or a rehearsal, the two pepper her with questions about every little thing. They never ask Finn about his job teaching at the local high school – they're just so excited about their mommy being a real life princess, they can bring it into practically every conversation, no matter what the topic. "I did do the dance scene today." She says.

Stella and Addie grin at her. "Do you and Daddy ever dance like Belle and the Beast?" Addie asks.

Rachel and Finn exchange a look at the question. "Sometimes," Rachel answers, her eyes never moving from her husband's as he places the finished plates of grilled cheese on the table. Stella and Addie dig in with vigor, because they've inherited Rachel's singing voice and, at dinner time, Finn's appetite. "In high school Daddy and I used to sing and dance with each other all the time,"

"Why don't you guys anymore?" Addie asks, her mouth full of grilled cheese.

"Adelaide," Rachel says, using her full name. "Don't talk with your mouth full." Addie looks down sheepishly. Rachel relaxes and smiles at Finn across the table. "And sometimes we still do."

After dinner that night they dance around the living room while Beauty and the Beast plays for the sixth time this week. Finn still has two left feet, so Rachel has to take the lead, and he still manages to step on her toes but she doesn't mind. Stella and Addie twirl around the room again, and they have a mild squabble when Stella says Addie has to be The Beast, but then Finn assures them they're both his princesses and everything's okay. Chris falls asleep on the couch with his favorite baby blanket because he's too young to appreciate a good Disney movie when he sees it – or at least that's what Stella says, in a very Rachel-esque fashion. And afterwards, when they're all tired and out of breath, Addie says that it's just like the movie as Rachel tucks her into bed. "You're the queen and Daddy's the king," She explains, sleep beginning to overtake her. "It's almost like a fairy tale."

Rachel smiles and kisses her daughter's forehead. "It is, baby." She says, but Addie's already asleep. When she looks up, Finn's smiling in the doorway, Chris in his arms.

At the end of the day, she thinks what they have is even better than Beauty and the Best. Because they're Finn, Rachel, Stella, Addie and Chris – a real life fairy tale if there ever was one. And this is the happily ever after part.


End file.
